Confessions Of A Locked Up Ghost King
by livinglife
Summary: Pariah Dark, the most powerful ghost in the afterlife. What exactly made him so evil? This story is his view of the events in his life that caused him to be so powercrazed. It's also shows his childhood and struggle for the throne.
1. Childhood Realizations

_**We all know that Pariah Dark is the evil powerful king of the Ghost Zone. But what made him so evil? And so powerful? This story was going to be a one shot but we will all see how far it can go.**_

How should I start this? I guess I should introduce myself. I am the Ghost King, Pariah Dark. Once I ruled the Ghost Zone with an iron fist. Now however I spend my days locked in a sarcophagus by the forever sleep; unable to do anything but think.

As you might or might not realize I am dead. But unlike every other ghost I did not use to be human. My family was pureblood ghosts. That was why we were royalty. The Dark bloodline runs back several millennia. But pureblooded ghosts have a tendency to disappear mysteriously after awhile. Greedy siblings wanting the throne may have had something to do with it.

The problem with royal families in the Ghost Zone is that ghosts don't die. How could we? The only way to obtain the crown was through treachery. Even I had a fair hand in that.

What's my story? My story is a long one but I don't think I will be going anywhere for a while. I think I will start from my child hood when my mother and father were the king and queen, about two centuries ago…

"Son you know that you have to go to school. Stop being invisible this instant." My father was floating around my room looking for me. He was a thin ghost, pale face, (although that was natural for ghosts) and not very strong. I was about eight and had no intention to come out of hiding.

I wasn't a particularly naughty kid. Actually I was probably the most innocent ghost in the entire zone, but today I was acting worse than usual.

I did not want to go to school. The other kids teased me even though I was royalty. I wasn't ugly; I had regular short green hair and wore normal clothes. No, they teased me _because_ I was royalty. Father looked up and snatched me out of the air. You can't stay invisible for long when you're eight.

"Now listen to me Jeremiah. Your mother and I are very busy. Please be a good boy and don't attack anyone." I forgot to mention one thing; my real name was not Pariah. It was Jeremiah Joseph Dark. I hated that name.

My father dragged me kicking and screaming out to the bus. He shoved me on and the doors slammed in my face. Father flew away without even a glance back at the bus. If he had he would have seen a little kid of eight years standing there looking lost and scared.

The other children glared at me with contempt. "Aww the poor wittle pwince didn't want to come to schoowl today." The ghost who had spoken was a tall fat kid. He wasn't even trying to mock me with his slurred words. He actually talked like that.

Unfortunately for me we had assigned seats on our bus. Guess where mine was? I floated over and sat down next to the fat kid. He punched me and continued talking. "So what's it feewl like to be the son of the two weakest wulers in the hiwstowy of the Ghost Zowne?"

I stared at my feet. What he said didn't exactly sting, but it was embarrassing that my parents were so lame. They hardly made any laws, and when they did they were stupid and no one bothered to enforce them.

The rest of the ride was pretty much the same way; him taunting me and I feeling sorry for myself. It was a daily ritual and it surprised me that he always found something to tease me about. Finally after a ten minute ride that felt like eternity the bus arrived at our school.

When we got off the bus I was shoved into the ground. I sat up, spitting out the dirt as I did, and turned to face my torturer. To my horror it was Fred Knightly, the school bully, although everyone just called him The Fright Knight.

"How is his royal highness doing today?" he asked in a sickly sweet yet still evil tone. Fred was strange. He wore a full suit of dark purple and black armor all the time except for his helmet. Here was a guy who wore exactly the same thing everyday and _I _was the one being beat up.

One of the teachers appeared and Fred instantly changed. "How are you doing today Mrs. Banshee?" Mrs. Banshee smiled down at him and then frowned when she looked at me. She grabbed me by the collar of my dirt stained shirt and lifted me of the ground. As we left I watched as Fred smiled with all of his evil glory and waved at me.

If I had not been taught that it was an improper thing to do I would have made a face at him, but being royalty as I was it did not seem fit. Mrs. Banshee dragged me into the oppressive building that was the Ghost Zone's first school.

Unlike how I acted when I was dragged to the school bus I simply floated behind her in quiet dismay. I didn't know what I had done that had caused my teacher to get mad at me, but when it came to my punishment there didn't always have to be a reason. The teachers hated me too.

The doors to the principles office slammed shut behind me. Our principal was an old looking ghost named Mr. Frank N. Stein. He used to be a mad scientist who tried to bring things back from the dead. Let's just say that he wasn't successful and was very bitter about it; especially when he heard that someone with a similar name got famous for it.

When you combine an elementary school principle with a bitter ghost you get Mr. Stein. He didn't look up when we came in and didn't say anything until the door slammed again and Mrs. Banshee was gone.

Principal Stein looked up at me with a look of someone looking at a particularly ugly bug; hideous and easy to squish. I tried not to fidget under his glare. "What have you done now Mr. Dark?" I opened my mouth to answer but he cut me off. "You picked a fight with Mr. Knightly didn't you? Well we will just have to give you a fitting punishment."

I stared at my feet to keep him from seeing the tears in my eyes. Later in my life those tears would become hatred, but for now they were simply the tears of a sad little boy. Mr. Stein began talking again. "I don't see why you feel that you can attack other kids. You may be the king's son but here you are just the same as every other kid."

My teeth clenched and for the first time in the eight years I had existed I talked back. "If I'm a normal kid then why don't you treat me like one?" I blinked in surprise and covered my mouth. A strange feeling coursed through me. It felt _good_ to stand up for myself… or it did at first.

Principal Stein stood up and was glaring at me so hard that his face had gone red. Instantly the good feeling died in my chest. I could almost see the steam coming from his ears. "Get this brat out of my school!" he screamed. The secretary came in and pulled me out of the office.

They sent a bus to take me home early. I sat silently thinking about what had happened. It was a small light to hold onto in the darkness of my life that once I had stood up for myself. Even if this was the last time I did it.

Finally I was home at my castle. The bus driver threw me a hateful look and pushed me out the door. I stumbled and fell and I heard the wheezy laughs of the driver before he shut the door and drove of.

I looked up at the gloomy red castle that I had lived in for my whole life. Its dark windows glared back and I ran inside to escape their gaze. I walked to the throne room and saw my mother sitting alone knitting in one of the two chairs in that huge chamber.

She didn't even look up when I entered. I walked up and felt my face go red in shame as I tried to explain why I was home several hours early. "Um, Mom? I know that I'm not supposed to be-"

"Hi son, is school over already? Well if that's the case than you'd better go to your room and do your homework." She continued knitting and I felt an unknown feeling swell inside me. It was hatred.

"No school is not over. Since I am a royal prince everyone tortures me and the principal sent me home because he's a jerk." I glared at her and waited for a shocked response.

That isn't what I received though. "That's nice dear; now go do your homework." I blinked in surprise and floated to my room. Twice today I had fought back. And twice today I had done something else too.

I had felt hatred, and I had felt power.

_**I think it's a good start to a story don't you? Unfortunately I think that I'm going to have to make up several ghosts to keep this story moving. The only other old ghost that I can think of is Clockwork. Any suggestions?**_


	2. Frightening Fights

_**Thank you catmedium for your review. I hope that this chapter isn't to short…**_

A pariah: an outcast. That's what I was. As a child I realized this cruel fact. My hatred towards my parents grew as I did and it wouldn't be long before I was consumed by it. At school I suffered the same torment each and every day. Then one day it happened; the prince fought back.

I was twelve when it happened, and it started out as a regular day. "Jeremiah it's time to go to school." It was one of the few servants we had who woke me; my dad didn't care enough to anymore. I flew out to the school bus and was greeted by swear words and glares.

"Poor pwivlaged pwince can get on the bus by himsewf now." If you can believe it I was still sitting next to the fat jerk. I sat down on the small edge of seat that wasn't covered by the other ghost and he glared at me.

"Mistewr skinny here thinks that I am too fat. Ain't thawt wight mistewr skinny? You and your pawents are all skinny littwle weaklings." Anger flared up in my chest. Not because he had called me a weakling, but because he had associated me with my parents. My eyes glowed dangerously.

"Is poowr littwle Jewimiah angwy? I bet youwr pawents-" He never finished his sentence. I had punched him in the gut so hard that it left an imprint of my hand in his blubbery body. He stuttered stupidly and stared at where I had hit him. He was silent the rest of the way.

I left the bus first and was shocked to find that people were whispering about me. Well, more than usual anyway. They stared at me with fear in their eyes- and I loved it. Fred Knightly stalked up to me with an evil look of pure hatred stretched across his face.

"How dare you think that you can take over my spot as a bully Dark! No one is stronger than me at this school, especially not a pampered brat like you!" He leapt toward me and tried to punch me in the face.

I grabbed his fist and twisted it. His face changed from menacing, to surprised, to pain. He screamed in agony but I still didn't let go. All of my hatred for him was causing me to twist harder. Ghosts may not have bones, but we still feel pain.

Finally I let go and Fred stepped back from me. He was crying and screaming still. Then he ran off in the direction of the school. The whispers grew louder and everyone backed away from me like I was poison.

Mrs. Banshee came running out of the school. "Jeremiah Dark, come with me this instant!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the building. She took me to the principal's office again and I saw Fred sitting in a chair holding his wrist in agony.

Mr. Stein was glaring at me with more hatred than I had seen in him before. Mrs. Banshee left and Principal Stein switched his gaze to Fred. "Mr. Knightly, would you please tell me what happened to you out on the school grounds?" Fred let out a fake wail and whimpered a little as he began to speak.

"You see sir; I was just walking on the lawn with my friends when we saw Jeremiah." I blinked and realized that he was going to lie. Anger swelled as he continued. "I walked over to him to say hello when- when…" He broke into false tears.

"Please try to continue if you can Mr. Knightly." Mr. Stein said. Fred blubbered a little bit and then continued.

"Jeremiah turned and attacked me for no reason, sir! Now I'll never be able to use my arm again!" He continued crying and the principal glared at me. Fred had a smirk on his face that only I could see.

"But-" I began. The principal cut me off and glared down at me.

"It seems that we have a future inhabitant of the jail on our hands." He said. "You have been expelled from this school." I didn't know whether to cheer or cry. Now I really was an outcast.

The bus once again took me home early. When I stepped off the bus driver slammed the doors and sped off at a breakneck speed. Maybe he was afraid of me. I entered the big empty castle and went to my room. My parent's probably didn't care that I was expelled. Or they didn't know.

The next morning I was woken up for school again. An idea formed in my head and stuck there. I got on the bus welcomed by whispers and stretched out on my usual seat. My usual partner wasn't there today. I got off the bus and walked behind the school; no one dared to follow.

What was I doing back there? I was training. Eventually I learned new powers and could stay invisible and intangible for hours at a time. A routine formed in my daily life. No one at my castle even knew that I had been expelled. The fat kid on the bus never came back.

After awhile could do other things with my powers. I could create shields, ecto-blasts, and even split myself into four different ghosts. All of my muscles grew bigger and my power grew. Someone stupid enough to venture into my training grounds became a target.

Even the way I looked changed. My hair grew longer, my eyes more red, and I wore more impressive clothing. If you had taken a picture of me then and compared it to a picture of me before I was expelled you probably wouldn't know that it was the same ghost.

My parents were still clueless. In fact I hardly ever saw them anymore. By now all of our servants had left us and the castle echoed eerily. Once I saw my mother staring out one of the windows and almost wanted to say something to her. I wanted to force her to look at what I had become. I remained silent and snuck past her.

Everyone always kept away from me. I didn't mind at all. Actually I preferred it. Some days instead of training I would fly around the Ghost Zone and enjoy the silence. No one saw me because I was invisible, and I always somehow knew where all of the doors led to.

Then there were days where I would stay invisible and listen to what ghosts talked about. One topic in particular came up the most. _"What are we planning to do to get rid of the King and Queen?"_ Instead of feeling scared I felt a strange excitement.

The castle was still empty except for my family. One day I simply decided to walk around. The number of rooms amazed me and most of them were full of weapons. A sword with a skull in the handle caught my eye. I picked it up and from that day forward trained with that too.

I became quite skilled with it and had started combining it with my powers. I could conduct stronger ecto-blasts through it, and it was a backup source of energy if I became weak.

Then one day on the bus it stopped at a strange new place. It was a large castle with gears all around it. Out of the castle came a baby faced kid wearing a purple robe. He had a scar underneath one of his eyes and clocks on his clothes. He floated over and climbed onto the bus.

The only empty seat was next to me. Since the new kid didn't know any better he floated over and sat down. His voice was slightly high pitched but I assumed that it would drop after puberty. "I'm Clockwork! Something told me that I should go to school today." He said.

I blinked and looked at him. He had a secret smile on his lips like he knew what would happen. I liked his attitude. The other ghost's were whispering to each other as they stared at me waiting to see what I would do.

A grin slipped onto my face. "Welcome to the Ghost Zone's worst and only school" I said shaking his hand. "I'm-" I paused. Did I really want to be called Jeremiah anymore?

I smiled wider and said, "I'm the Ghost Zone's future king; Pariah Dark."

_**Now you know where his name comes from! Who else thinks that Clockwork is cute as a kid?**_


	3. Like Clockwork

From that point on Clockwork and I were best friends. Eventually I realized that he could see into the future, and that he knew almost everything. He didn't need to come to school, but he got on the bus everyday and never told me his true reason for coming.

Not that I cared much. Sometimes he would just ride the bus to school and then watch me train. At first I was nervous but something about Clockwork allowed you to forget that he was there. It was almost like all that he did was watch time go by.

Then there were other times where his eyes would glow brighter than usual and his face would look blank. Then he'd say something like, "There will be a boy in the future who will have one half from each dimension." Neither of us new really what those visions meant, but I decided that maybe they would be helpful someday.

As time wore on more words of rebellion spread between the ghosts. Clockwork would go with me when I flew around invisibly to watch other ghosts and his reactions to their words shocked me. He neither looked surprised or excited, only a look of boredom was on his face. In fact he almost always had that look on his face.

When I asked him why he always seemed apathetic he simply shrugged and said in his high pitched, almost fake sounding voice, "Because I've seen it already." I floated in silence and didn't ask anymore questions. Deep down I think I was a little bit afraid of this ghost who knew everything.

My anger towards my parents cooled off after the bulling at school had stopped, and since I never really saw them in the castle I had no memory of them doing anything wrong. Even words of rebellion seemed to cease after awhile. The king and queen of the Ghost Zone were more like figure heads than actual rulers. Clockwork said that someday the rulers of a place called England would be like that too.

Life went on as normal as it could get for a ghost, and this continued for exactly two years. The fourteenth year in my life was one that I would never forget. The trouble started almost exactly after my birthday to be exact.

Clockwork and I were floating around the castle when he had looked at me and said, "Happy birthday Pariah." I stared back at him. Since I had never told him when my birthday was it was kind of a shock that he knew, but then again, he knew everything.

The silence that had followed the three words Clockwork had said was broken by sudden angry sounding yells coming from the throne room. Since it was so uncharacteristic of my parents to argue I thought that it was a thief who had gotten lost in the vast winding passageways of our castle. It had already happened twice.

But it was my parents who were yelling. They were not yelling at each other but yelling instead at a cowering ghost that looked sort of like a mad scientist. Then I realized that it was my former principal and I felt my ghostly blood freeze. Before any of them could notice us Clockwork and I turned invisible.

"How dare you insist that our son is expelled from school!" my mother yelled. "He gets on the school bus everyday! I'm sure that you just can't read the attendance record." It was a pretty stupid argument but Mr. Stein looked almost like steam would pour out of his ears.

"I assure you your majesties that he is expelled." He looked very proud. "In fact I was the one who did it!" he realized what he had just done and his face crumpled in terror. My parents both seemed to grow several times bigger and for the first time in my life I was scared of them.

My father glared contemptuously at the simpering ghost before him and unleashed a bright red blast onto the poor creature. Mr. Stein flew from the room from the force of the blast in a ball of red flame.

"There." I noticed that his eyes were glowing with an insane sort of power. "That had to be the most exciting thing I have done in a long_, long_, time." Father suddenly flew out the door cackling like a maniac and mother followed.

Clockwork and I became visible in the now totally empty castle. He looked at me with the secret knowing look of his and said, "Well, it is still your birthday." My expression was an incredulous one. "We could go to my house if you want." I stared around at the castle. Anywhere would be better than this creepy place.

When we arrived at Clockwork's castle there was a large angry crowd standing around it. "They must be here to talk to my dad." He said, and I could almost sense a lie in his voice. "Could you wait here until I come back? He probably doesn't realize that I'm here."

He flew around the back of his house and less than a minute later the front door opened. A man who I assumed was Clockwork's father stepped out. I stared at him and was amazed at how close he and his father looked. They were even dressed the same. Maybe it was all a coincidence… or maybe not. There was a scar under Clockwork's eye that matched the one his father had.

Suspicions rose in my chest. Clockwork was a shape shifter. How old was he really? I was so suspicious that I didn't hear the life changing conversation taking place behind me. Could I be friends with a lying ghost several times older than myself? But then again, I thought with a cynical smile spreading across my face, I lied a lot too.

The crowd floated away and young Clockwork returned with the strange 'I know all' look on his face. "You never told me that you were an adult." I said to him. He had a slight smile on his lips.

"Actually, the term 'senior citizen' would have been better." His voice was deep and calm. It was strange hearing it come from the mouth of a kid. At that moment he grew taller and at least eighty years older. "Follow me." He said, and I did.

We entered his also empty castle and he led me to one of the many clocks. He waved his wrinkled arm over it and it became a swirling portal. Then it cleared and seemed be a window, a window to another time.

I stared transfixed at the portal. It was showing a one eyed powerful looking ghost fighting a strange robot thing with another ghost inside of it. Then it showed me my parents.

They were destroying everything that was against the many rules they had laid down but no one had followed. The portal became a clock again and I turned around and stared into young Clockwork's face. I took a step backward and realized that I was more scared of this ghost than I knew.

"I should be going now Clockwork; my parents might be getting worried." We both knew that they were doing no such thing. I took another step and was about to turn and run when Clockwork grabbed my arm in his powerful adult fist. "What's going on?" I said.

"Don't go straight home tonight Pariah." He said, and then he turned away as I ran out the door. Before I left I thought that I had heard him say, "Everything's the way it's supposed to be."

Despite my newfound distrust in my former best friend I didn't go home. I floated around the Ghost Zone and watched the world pass by. Then eventually I began to make the long flight towards home.

I stared at the once huge building in disbelief. It had been destroyed and all that was left was a pile of rocks. My parents were also floating around staring at the castle remains. "What happened?" I whispered.

"A rebellion" my father said, and I noticed that neither he nor my mother was wearing a crown. "We are no longer the royal family of the Ghost Zone anymore."

Great birthday wasn't it?

_**That was sarcasm. Poor, poor Pariah.**_


	4. Eye For An Eye

_**Chapter 4! That's all I have to say.**_

Since we were now scorned and hated by all, my parents and I traveled across the Ghost Zone. My hatred towards them both decreased slightly. They were all I had left now, and I had begun to forget why I had hated them.

For a few years we lived in an uninhabited part of the Ghost Zone. It was full of everything that humans had lost. At least there I could escape the eyes of my parents by hiding amongst the numerous objects.

Without the title of king and queen, my parents seemed to lose the will to exist. The problem with that though is that ghosts can't commit suicide like humans, and they took out their misery on me.

"Jeremiah! Where have you floated off to? Come over here this instant!" I floated over from where I had been hiding and bowed in front of my mother. She waved her hand and blasted me with a pitifully weak ecto-blast. "Don't ever hide from me again. I may not be the boss of this world, but I'm still the boss of you!" she blasted me again and I pretended to flinch.

Along with my mothers pointless punishments there was my father. He was going insane. Everyday he would think it was his coronation. "Where is the Stone of Scone archbishop?" I of course was the archbishop, and the Stone of Scone was a pile of socks I had rolled up. I pointed to where the pile had been ever since my father started living in the same day over and over.

"Ah good." He said. "And do you have the crown?" I nodded and held up a bucket. After doing this so many times, I had learned that if you talk, then you have to start all over. Don't ask me why, I'm not the insane one.

Now you're probably wondering why I put up with this stuff. After you lose your best friend, your home, and your title in one day, it kind of does something to your confidence. In other words I was a wreck. My fourteen year old mind believed that maybe now since my parents were not royalty, they would have more time for me.

Yeah right.

So I spent two years of my life trying to please them the best that I could. This would have continued for much longer, had the warden not shown up. That's right warden. Apparently, a sixteen year old kid, a weak ghost that could barely float, and an insane man posed a threat and were to be captured.

Stepper (Weird name isn't it. He said it was a family thing) was the warden of the jail set up just for us. It was the first Ghost Zone jail since all of the previous wrongdoers had been held in the now nonexistent dungeon of our nonexistent castle.

The warden had a white suit and was bald. His skin was grey and he looked fairly old. He smiled a rotting tooth smile at me as I struggled against the guard that had handcuffed me and was forcing me into the back of a white van.

"If only my son Walker could see me now. But he's still with the livin." He said in an accent that reminded me of a place full of cowboys and oil. "It took me two years to track you fellas down, and now you'll be goin to my prison." Wow. Two years to find a place full of dirty socks and three people. He must have been busy.

My mother was pushed into the van easily, but my father was a different story. "No one will interrupt my coronation! I had to send my own father into a dark abyss to get the crown!" I stopped struggling and stood still from shock. This was the first experience with treachery I had had.

So that's where grandfather Dark went. The fog that seemed to have been covering my eyes since my fourteenth birthday lifted. My terrible hatred came back more fiery than ever and I felt insane power flow through my veins. So that's what my family did? Killed each other for the throne? Then I guess I should follow with tradition then.

The glowing handcuffs on my wrists snapped and the guard was sent flying. I raised my clenched fists and glared at the stupidly named warden. Quite to my surprise beams shot from my eyes and blasted Stepper in the stomach. By then I was surrounded by guards and both of my parents were in the white van.

Stepper stood up straight and yelled, "What are you waiting for? He's only a sixteen year old varmint! Attack!" The ghosts all flew at me without a second thought and I saw the warden stand there as if watching a play.

I could take on one ghost. Heck I could probably take on four the way I felt, but the thirty that there was overpowered me. I fell to the ground, bleeding ectoplasm in several places, and locked up with about six pairs of handcuffs.

The warden loomed over my fallen form with his rotten toothed smile beaming from his face. "You have quite a nasty glare there kid. I didn't have that power till I was three times your age." I assumed that he must have been a fairly old ghost.

"Now, there's some rules I need to lay down for y'all." He said in his southern accent. "Well actually there's just one. My prison is my world. I make the rules, and you follow the rules. Got it?"

"That's two pardner." I said, mocking his drawl. My rage was still influencing me, and I was a teenager. This guy sends his guards to beat me up and now he pretends to be superior to me. Can you blame me for being rude? Apparently the warden could.

He looked incredibly angry as he glared down at me. "You have real purdy eyes for a young fella." He hissed. "Big and red. I wonder what would happen if you lost one of your peepers." I felt my 'peepers' widen as Stepper reached down towards my left eye.

Pain exploded through my head as the warden exacted his revenge on me. I was positive that I was screaming although all that I heard was a loud wheezing noise ringing through my head. I realized later that it was Stepper's laughter.

Then the pain died a little bit. My senses returned and I felt my remaining eye roll around in its socket. Another disadvantage to being dead is you can't pass out and end the pain. I heard myself screaming and couldn't stop. It was like being trapped with someone else.

Then I felt myself writhing on the ground in agony. The taste of ectoplasm filled my mouth and then I could _smell_ it. It was metallic and sickeningly sweet. Finally my sight returned and my eyelid snapped open.

Having one eye is not pleasant. It was like I had lost the whole left side of my face. I had to turn my head in all directions just to get the gist of what I had seen before. Stepper was standing over me with that grin of his on his face. In his hand was a dull red marble.

With a sickened jolt I realized that the marble was my eye. He had ripped it out of my head. I gagged weakly and he laughed again. "I'll have to give this to Walker when he crosses over. A memento from his old man." This time I did through up, and Stepper wheezed harder than ever.

"The ex-prince doesn't like talk about his eye? Oh well. It was getting boring anyway." He stuck the eyeball into his pocket to my disgust again and then motioned to his guards. "Load him in the van boys." Then he floated off to the front of the van somewhere in my blind spot.

The guards lifted me into the white vehicle and it lurched forward. My parents said nothing and I weakly closed my eye. The pain in my empty socket was still overpowering all else and I sat in stiff silence until the van stopped.

The guards dragged us into a large looming building. Barbed wire surrounded the place, and there were high towers with guards. That was about all I could observe with my limited eyesight.

We were escorted to a small cramped cell with one bed and two piles on straw. My mother grabbed the bed and my father shoved the two piles of hay together and laid down also. I sat on the floor and closed my eye.

We were the first prisoners in the Ghost Zone jail.


	5. A Fate Fortold

_**Here is a list of excuses for why this chapter was so late: I had a lot of writers block, my other story was almost over so I wrote three chapters of that instead of this, I started the sequel to that other story, and my computer wouldn't let me log in to my profile to post chapters after I had finished this one.**_

The pain in my socket was still raging the next day, and that was very odd, because since I was a ghost, pain was a rare thing. My parents never said anything to me, and most of the time they didn't look at me either.

Stepper came to our cell later that day. He must have realized that I was strong enough to blow his head off, so he simply talked to me from the outside. "You have a visitor Dark, and he isn't a friend of yours."

"So they finally caught the teenage renegade." A deep voice said. I looked up and positioned myself so that I could see most of the door with my eye. There was a dark purple and black suit of armor was standing there, and it took me a minute to remember my childhood enemy.

The Fright Night glared at me and then he took off his helmet. His face was still the handsome one that allowed him to manipulate people, and there was a smirk spread across it. "I see that Stepper has permanently damaged your royal face."

I glared at him with my one eye and he laughed wickedly. "This is more than I paid for. I'll have to hire the warden more often." My eye widened and once again Fred chuckled. "That's right Jeremiah." He said "The reason you're here instead of rotting in hiding somewhere is because of me. I paid for your capture; the damage done to you is an added bonus."

Fred smiled and said, "What do you think of that pretty boy? Your freedom was bought by me, and if things go my way, which they will, you'll be in here for the rest of your afterlife." He looked somewhat disappointed by my silence. "What's the matter? Has Stepper taken your tongue as well as your eye?"

My eye burned, but not out of pain. Since I couldn't release a beam through both of my eyes, the power that usually was in both of them joined in my remaining eye. "My name is not Jeremiah." I hissed. "It's Pariah." The single beam launched from my eye and I was sent flying backwards from the force.

The beam melted the bars and hit Fred directly in his face. He screamed in agony and ran out of my range of vision. "What do you think of _that_ pretty boy?" I stood up and looked at the door of the cell. It had been melted and there was now a very large hole.

My parents looked stunned. They looked at me and still said nothing. I ran from the cell and instead of towards the door I ran towards the warden's office. There was still a score to be settled.

I turned invisible at the sound of footsteps and watched as Fred stormed past. His face was mangled and burnt, and I watched as he put his helmet on and then welded it shut with a small ecto ray. No one was going to see what I had done to his perfect face.

He floated away and I remained invisible as I continued my revenge mission. Eventually I came to the warden's office and found Stepper running around grabbing things of shelves and stuffing it into a bag. He was also talking to himself.

"I've got to git out of here before that psycho hunts me down." He looked around nervously. "If he caused that much damage to the Fright Knight in a ghost power proof cell, the thought of him finding me now scares me more than a hundred rattlers."

At that moment I chose to appear, and he had to look at me twice to figure out that I was real. Then he seemed to gain either newfound bravery, or good acting skills. "What do you want? Don't you git that I am stronger than you? I pulled out your eye!"

I laughed, and I was amazed at how evil and cruel the laugh sounded. Stepper looked scared as I spoke. My voice was more menacing than any other ghost I had heard before. "You may have stolen my eye, but that was when I was in six pairs of handcuffs and weak from fighting. Now I have the power and the reason needed to fight you."

Before the warden could say anything else I created a large ecto-blast and had launched it within seconds. The room flashed in a green light and when it cleared there was nothing left of the warden. It turns out that you _can _kill a ghost.

I stared at the burned spot on the floor where the warden had been standing. Then I stared at my hands. What made me so powerful? Was it simply because I was a ghost with royal blood, or did it have a deeper connection to everything that had happened to me?

The sound of guards coming down the hallway woke me from my thoughts. Before they could cut me off I turned invisible and slipped out the door. As soon as I left guards flooded the office and started an alarm.

I flew surprisingly fast through the prison, and before anyone could realize where I was I was gone. The prison still had alarms blaring, and I left to find a quieter area. I still had my sense of direction and found a door that led to a quiet empty field.

The grass was surprisingly soft, so I laid down, and I stared up into the black sky. Before the servants left one of them had told me that the human world's sky was a beautiful blue color. The quiet reminded me of the time long ago when Clockwork and I had watched people float by and would talk about everything.

Loneliness hit me as more memories of my previous best friend came back to me. Then suddenly I was not alone.

I sensed someone else's presence and sat up. The other ghost was sitting in front of me and watched me as if he knew what I would do. It was Clockwork. He had changed into his adult form and I stared at him as emotions flooded my brain. I wanted to kill him for lying to me, abandoning me, and now coming back, but I also wanted to hug him for saving my life by telling me not to go home on my fourteenth birthday. If I had the rebels would have tortured me- or worse.

Instead of doing anything I simply sat in a shocked silence. Clockwork smiled and said, "Two years without seeing your former best friend is a long time. I can tell that you are feeling the same way." He looked around as if expecting someone to appear any minute.

Finally I found my voice. "Clockwork…" I stopped, and sighed, then started again. "I killed someone, permanently." I hadn't realized how much the guilt was affecting me. Mostly I had brushed it off, telling myself that Stepper had deserved it, but now that I had told Clockwork, who had already known already anyway, I felt like I could fly; if I couldn't fly that is.

My friend watched my face and said, "Mercy to the criminal may be cruelty to the people." Clockwork looked like he was torn, unable to decide what to do, and I had only seen him like that once before, on my fourteenth birthday when he asked me to come to his house.

Then his face became determined and he said, "Pariah, this is hard for me to say. Partly because it goes against the rules of time, but mostly because you need to know, and I don't want to tell you. You will have to kill many more people to fulfill your future and your destiny. I had hoped that maybe there would be away to prevent that future from happening." He lowered his head. "I'm afraid there is not."

My eye widened and looked down at my hands. I didn't want to believe it, but I knew that Clockwork never lied. Fate was dragging me down and turning me evil, and there was no way to stop it.

_**The strange thing about wrighting a story is that most of the things that happen are a surprise for me too. I can't try and think of what's going to happen next, because my mind wanders onto other topics, so I have to type the words in order to see what happens next.**_


	6. Servant To The King

When I looked back up Clockwork was gone. I stood up and stretched. Despite my belief that Clockwork was telling the truth, I promised myself that I would not turn evil. Why would I turn into the kind of person I hated?

I left through another door and drifted aimlessly through the Ghost Zone. Ghost's stared at me but looked away when they saw my gouged out eye socket. Finally I grew sick of their terrified stares.

"What is wrong with all of you?" I yelled at the shocked ghosts. "Haven't you ever seen someone more disfigured than me?" A girl about my age floated closer.

"Your injury isn't the reason we fear you. We've heard that a one eyed ghost escaped from the prison and blew the warden into oblivion. I'm pretty sure that you're the only one eyed ghost around."

I sighed and continued flying. My evil reputation had already been created. After a few minutes of flying I realized that the girl was still following me. I stopped and looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "What do you want?"

She held out her hand and in it I saw a black piece of fabric. I turned and she picked the eye patch up by the string. "My little brother thinks that he's a pirate. I'm sure that he won't notice if you take one of his patches."

I picked it up and stared at it. "Why are you giving me this? I'm evil remember? You aren't supposed to be nice to evil people."

The girl smiled, "Evil people never say that they are evil. Besides, I have a soft spot for bad boys." She turned and floated away. I watched her leave and carefully tied the black cloth around my head.

Hope slowly flooded through me. The future could be changed. Somehow I was going to stop my evil future from happening. I turned invisible and sped through the Ghost Zone. Finally I was floating in front of Clockwork's castle.

I was about to knock when I heard Clockwork call out, "Come in Pariah." I entered the large castle and stared at Clockwork.

"I'm not going to be evil. There is no way you could know that. You of all people should understand that I'm not who everyone sees. I refuse to believe everyone's lies! I just wanted to be normal Clockwork and you knew that. Who would want to suffer my fate? No one trusts me, no one believes me, and my parents never taught me how to do anything! I'm alone in this huge overpopulated Ghost Zone! You see things clearer than everyone. Teach me how to stop my fate!"

Clockwork stared at me. "You never can change Pariah."

"How can you say I never change! My parents are the one's who stay the same." I glared at him out of my one eye. "Isn't my eye proof enough that I've changed?"

Clockwork sighed as he changed into an old man. "Pariah, no amount of help can stop the future from happening. If I were to help you now then it would disrupt important events in the future that ensure someone else's life." A portal showed a ghost with white hair, green eyes, and a black and white jumpsuit. Clockwork pointed to the portal and said, "His future to be exact."

Anger burned in my chest as my last hope vanished. "You want to help someone who probably hasn't even been born yet and you're willing to sacrifice me to do it? I thought that you were my best friend, but you've been manipulating me since the first time you got on the bus."

He said nothing and simply stared at me. Then he nodded slowly. "I am the master of all time. As much as I hate to I must make sure that young Danny's life turns out okay. His life will ensure the safety of the human world." I glared at him again and felt my eye glow menacingly.

"I swear that you will regret this Clockwork." I turned my head towards the screen and blasted an ectoblast out of my eye towards the boy's grinning face. The portal vanished. "If I must be evil as my destiny dictates than I'm going to be the most destructive force you could ever imagine. Then I'm going to kill the ghost that you're trying so hard to protect."

I turned and flew out of the castle. Fate had pushed me too far. My last hope had ditched me for some pathetic ghost named Danny. I flew towards the remains of my castle and was relieved that there were no ghosts around.

Finally I arrived at the red brick ruins of my old home. I stared at it for a long time and then flew over and started working. I pushed stones and worked building wall after wall. The best thing about being a ghost is that you never get tired.

Most of the inside of the castle had been raided. Even some of the bricks were gone. I worked and worked and finally it was starting to look like a building. Weeks passed and I was amazed at how no ghosts ever flew past here. Maybe they had lost their interest once all of the valuable objects had been stolen.

I stared in amazement at my castle. I had built it by hand and it looked far more foreboding than it had before. As I was lost in thought I suddenly was hit in the back with a powerful ectoblast.

"And to think, this was the same kid I used to beat up in school." I turned around and stared into the Fright Knights helmeted face.

"Not so pretty anymore, right Fred? Shame that you welded that tin can helmet to your head. Now no one can see your handsome face… oh that's right, I melted it." I calmly let an ectoblast form in my hand.

The Fright Knight's gauntleted hand glowed as he charged up a purple blast. "You think you're so strong because you caught me off guard. Well guess again!" He launched his blast at me and instead of firing I simply smacked it away as if it was a fly. He gasped in surprise and then I launched one continual blast at him.

His screams filled the air as I put more and more energy into my blast. All of my rage smashed out of me and fueled my beam. I stopped abruptly and watched as Fred floated limply. I flew over and I watched as he opened his eyes and stared up at me. "Pariah…"

I kicked him and he doubled over in pain. He still continued to talk. "You… stopped. You could have killed me, I know you still had more power in you, but you stopped. Why?"

Sadness filled my dead heart as I remembered how desperately I had been trying to escape my evil future. I didn't want to kill him… but I couldn't let him know that. "A king needs servants Freddy boy. How would you like to become a real knight?"

Fred laughed harshly. "I don't assume I have a choice"

I smiled at how narrowly I had avoided showing weakness. He believed me. "Welcome to the Dark castle, Fright Knight."


	7. Love And Hatred

I stared out of a castle window, watching the empty zone, and wondering why exactly I was destined to be evil. "My liege," I turned and saw Fred Knightly bowing. I felt uncomfortable letting him do that, but I did nothing to stop him.

"There is an intruder. He claims to be an old friend of yours. I think Clockwork was his name. Should I let him in?" I could feel my eye widen, and nodded, because I was too shocked by Clockwork's appearance to say anything.

The Fright Knight left, and Clockwork floated in. He was in his adult form, and he smiled slightly when he saw me. "Hello Pariah." He said quietly. I glared at him.

"Why are you here? I assume it's not to say, 'Oh I made a mistake, you're not going to be evil'. What do you want? I'm sick of you meddling. If you know what's going to happen why don't you just let it happen?"

Clockwork shook his head. "Pariah, I am not meddling." He looked into my eyes and said. "A long time ago, I met a young ghost who became my friend. We were friends for a few years until he discovered that I was not what I seemed. What happened to that ghost?"

"He died when He was taken to jail on the whim of a bully, had his eye was removed, and his best friend told him that he had to become evil. He won't be coming back." Clockwork sighed. "I'll ask again. What do you want Clockwork."

"To apologize." Shock hit me. "I should have just let time run its course, but I tried to ease your pain by speaking to you and that only made things worse." He smiled sadly "For once I was wrong. It's not often a ghost becomes friends with me."

I stared at him. "I am the master of all time. That doesn't mean that everything comes out the way I would like. Every little change has consequences." He smiled and turned to leave. "Good luck Pariah." He vanished and I was left staring at the empty air where he had just been floating.

I left the castle and floated invisibly around the Ghost Zone like I had when I was younger. It was a lot more crowded than it had been before. Suddenly a ghost appeared in front of me. She appeared to have just died. Her hair was long, and she seemed to be a harem girl. She was extremely attractive.

I turned visible and she blinked and started crying. "What's wrong? I said softly."

"I'm dead!" she sobbed. "I'm in the land of the ghosts! I was so close to having my own kingdom until his wife threw me out, and now I'm dead!"

"Well, everyone is dead here." I said trying to comfort her. She only sobbed harder. "Look, why don't you come back to my castle, I can help you adjust-"

"Did you say castle?" she said instantly smiling sweetly. "You mean you're a prince?"

"Um, king actually." The girl smiled and swirled around me.

"I'm Desiree. You're awfully young to be a king. But you're awfully handsome." I blinked at her with my one eye and then smiled. "Lead the way to your castle." We flew back to the castle, her talking all the way.

We entered the castle and she looked around almost disapprovingly. "Hmm, not as big as the sultan's palace, but it will do." She smiled at me. "Where should I stay?" I showed her up to her room and she kissed me on the lips. "Thanks…"

"Pariah." I said.

"Oh what a dreadful name. Goodnight." She slammed the door in my face and I stared at it a while longer before leaving.

The next day she smiled at me and kissed me again. I simply stared at her, perplexed at why she seemed to like me so much. She swirled around me, her smoky tail curling around my leg. "Oh Pariah, I'm so glad you found me and brought me to this place." She kissed me again.

"You know, I would really like a castle of my own." I glared at her, suddenly realizing why she had had a sudden attraction to me. I grabbed her by the hair.

"So you just wanted to use me for your own personal gain like you tried to use that sultan of yours." I slammed her into a wall and brought my face inches from hers. "Get out of my castle now, and you'd better hope that I never see you again."

She flew away and I glared after her angrily. I realized now that there were going to be a lot of people trying to take advantage of me. I looked over at the Fright Knight, who had watched the whole thing from a doorway. "Give me your sword."

He started to protest. "My sword? But, its custom made-" I glared at him. "Fine my lord." He handed it to me. I concentrated and felt all of my anger and hatred flow through me and into the sword. Finally I felt calmer and drained. I held the sword and stared at it as it glowed in a fiery purple light.

I handed it back to him. He took it carefully and stared at it. "It's called the Soul Shredder." I said. "It sends anyone you hurt with it to a dimension where they live their worst fears. Here's a warning before you get any ideas. It doesn't work on me."

"Why have you given me this?" He asked.

"So you can protect the castle. Destroy anyone who comes within a hundred feet of here. I have no use for the pitiful ghosts who dare to come near my domain."

"Even Clockwork?" He said, remembering him from yesterday.

I thought about it. Clockwork could see everything. He knew that I would give the fright Knight this sword and that was probably why he had shown up when he had. To say goodbye while he had a chance.

"We won't be seeing Clockwork for awhile."


End file.
